Cemetery Junction (film)

Cemetery Junction
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant
Produced by	Sue Baden-Powell Charlie Hanson
Written by	Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant
Starring	Christian Cooke Felicity Jones Tom Hughes Jack Doolan Emily Watson Ricky Gervais Matthew Goode Ralph Fiennes
Music by	Tim Atack
Cinematography	Remi Adefarasin
Editing by	Valerio Bonelli
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing International
Release date(s)	14 April 2010 (2010-04-14)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	£1,329,002

Cemetery Junction is a coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 14 April 2010.

Plot

In 1970s Britain, three friends spend their days joking, drinking, fighting and chasing girls. Freddie (Christian Cooke) wants to leave their working-class world but cool, charismatic Bruce (Tom Hughes) and lovable loser Snork (Jack Doolan) are happy with life the way it is. When Freddie gets a new job as a door-to-door salesman and bumps into his old school sweetheart Julie (Felicity Jones), the gang are forced to make choices that will change their lives forever. Freddie gets a job working for Julie's dad (Ralph Fiennes) selling life insurance.

Cast

• Christian Cooke as Freddie Taylor
• Felicity Jones as Julie
• Tom Hughes as Bruce Pearson
• Jack Doolan as Paul/Snork
• Ricky Gervais as Len Taylor
• Julia Davis as Mrs. Taylor
• Albert Welling as Mr. Waring
• Katy Murphy as Mrs. Waring
• Ralph Fiennes as Mr. Kendrick
• Emily Watson as Mrs. Kendrick
• Burn Gorman as Renwick
• Matthew Goode as Mike Ramsay
• Matthew Holness as Bandleader
• Kirk Yeomans as Voice of Bandleader
• Steve Speirs as Sgt. Wyn Davies
• Anne Reid as Freddie's Gran
• Michael Jibson as Cliff
• Francis Magee as Mr. Pearson
• Imdad Miah as Salesman #1
• David Earl as Brian the Cafe owner
• Bryony Hannah as Louise the Waitress
• Simone Richards as a Cafe worker
• Stephen Merchant as Dougie

Production

The film was originally titled The Man from the Pru, a colloquial term (and later an advertising slogan) for agents of the Prudential insurance company. During the writing of the film, the Prudential allowed Gervais and Merchant to use their archives for research. However, after reading the finished script, the company decided it was not pleased with how the company was to be portrayed in the film and decided not to allow their name to be used. The new title comes from the name of the Cemetery Junction in the New Town district of the town of Reading where the film takes place.

Principal photography began on 15 June 2009, Filming locations included Taylors Bell Foundry and the Great Central Railway using Loughborough Central railway station. However, the intermittent scenes which show the camera panning around a countryside landscape were filmed in Stroud, Gloucestershire. An extended trailer was broadcast on Channel 4 on 31 January 2010.

Cemetery Junction is set in 1973, in Reading, where Gervais grew up. According to him, it is a "coming of age" story that is a cross between The Office and Mad Men.

Cemetery Junction is an actual road junction in Reading, where Wokingham Road divides from the London Road.

Writing

In an interview with BBC Radio 2's Danny Wallace on 9 January 2010, Merchant stated the script was loosely based upon the lyrics of the Bruce Springsteen song "Thunder Road". This sentiment was repeated by Gervais on 12 April 2010 when he appeared on The Graham Norton Show.

Gervais has stated on Radio 5 Live that British New Wave films such as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning were an influence on the film.

Reception

Reviews of the film have been mixed. Total Film magazine giving it four out of five stars and calling it 'the most confident British debut since Shallow Grave'. Time Out magazine gave the film three stars and said it was 'refreshing to see a mainstream British film with the ambition to strut its stuff on studio terms'. Adam Smith of the Radio Times commented that 'it's deftly written, unobtrusively directed and nicely acted' and also gave it three stars. OK! appreciated the 'sweet characters and good actors' and also liked 'the vintage look of the film' and the 'great supporting cast'. The Daily Mirror gave the film a very positive review awarding it four stars and saying; 'The film is no simple-minded laugh-fest, but rather an astute, amusing and engaging coming-of-age tale with a killer soundtrack of 1970s classics.'. On the other hand, Uncut called it a 'passable, mildly diverting, coming-of-age Brit-flick'. Andrew Barker of Variety wrote, "It's a strange hybrid of a film, boasting loudmouth boorishness instead of wit, and fortune-cookie schmaltz instead of heart."

Box office

The film had an opening weekend intake of £641,218. At the end of its theatrical run in the UK, the film took in £1,329,002.

Home media

The UK DVD and Blu-ray release is set for August 30, 2010. The DVD bonus features include a commentary track from writer/directors, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, deleted scenes and two featurettes including discussions with the cast and crew. The Blu-ray release will feature all of these features but with several additional featurettes.

Columbia Pictures, the US-based studio which released the film, had decided not to theatrically release the film in the company's home market. Accordingly, the film was released in the US and Canada by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on August 17, 2010.

External links

• Cemetery Junction at the Internet Movie Database
• Cemetery Junction at Rotten Tomatoes